Narconon Blog

The Narconon program provides successful drug-free rehabilitation for people addicted to heroin, oxycodone and other opiates without putting them on methadone or buprenorphine.

Los Angeles, CA - According to recent survey information from the Treatment Episode Data Set (TEDS), more than 350,000 people throughout the country entered some form of treatment or rehabilitation program listing an opiate as their primary drug. Opiate addiction has been a major problem in America for decades. The main difference has been what type of opiate, such as morphine, heroin, oxycodone, hydrocodone or other synthetic drugs. Over the years there has also been a push by the pharmaceutical industry to get opiate addicts onto their replacement drugs such as methadone, and more recently, buprenorphine.

Opiate addiction comes with very heavy withdrawal symptoms, and so many addicts are drawn to the idea of not having to experience them by taking a legalized substitute that feeds their bodies’ dependency, but hopefully with less behavioral consequences. It’s a genius sales tactic that has generated billions of dollars for the drug industry and methadone clinics, many of which are for-profit corporations instead of non-profit treatment centers.

The National Survey of Substance Abuse Treatment Servicess (N-SSATS) showed that on the day of the last survey there were more than 260,000 Americans who were being given methadone as a substitute drug. While methadone clinics made up just about ten percent of the total treatment facilities, they had the highest average number of clients to accumulate more than 22 percent of all people receiving services for substance abuse. In addition, more than one-third of programs that prescribed methadone didn’t even offer detoxification - they were strictly dispensaries for maintenance drugs.

Methadone has drawn more scrutiny in recent years with an alarming increase in the number of overdoses and related deaths. Some states are seeking to regulate the drug and its clinics, such as a bill in West Virginia that proposes methadone treatment centers to report and track take-home doses of the drugs. Others are just now seeing the social problems attached to the drug, such as police officers in Maine who reported a number of automobile accidents caused by methadone patients nodding off at the wheel while driving.

While the long-term maintenance plan for methadone is to eventually wean off it over an approximate 18-month time period, the majority of methadone addicts actually increase their dosages due to further tolerance and wind up going into detox and rehabilitation programs after all.

One program that has offered drug-free rehabilitation methods for opiate addicts for decades is the Narconon program, which is based on research and developments by the late American author and humanitarian, L. Ron Hubbard. Rather than putting heroin and other opiate addicts on replacement drugs or having them withdraw completely “cold turkey,” the Narconon program uses nutritional and light physical therapies to help ease withdrawal symptoms in their social detoxification.

The rest of the program includes a body cleansing process to rid the drug residues called the New Life Detoxification Program, which helps to eliminate physical cravings for the drug and rehabilitate mental clarity for the education, counseling and life skills portion of the treatment.

Narconon has over 140 groups and centers in dozens of countries throughout the world, with many facilities from coast to coast in the United States. The overall success of the program in returning people to becoming responsible, ethical and productive citizens has led to continued growth, which is spearheaded by the Narconon International office in Los Angeles.

For more information about this life-saving drug-free rehabilitation program or to get help for a loved one in need, visit www.narconon.org today.